Chapter 73

"It turned and left the whale pod, heading west!" Soon, Hong Tao tied the bamboo tubes to the sailboard. When he was dozens of meters away from the sailboat, Karl had already returned empty-handed, indicating that the third harpoon had also been planted. As they passed each other, Karl pointed to the port side and gave Hong Tao a new direction.

Whales are a peculiar group. They are huge but timid. Once attacked, except for a few species of toothed whales, they rarely think of retaliating but scatter and flee instead. They are truly large and cowardly, despite their massive size. In this sense, nature is quite fair. It gives you a huge body but not an aggressive personality, otherwise, it would disrupt the ecological balance. It doesn't allow any species to dominate absolutely. However, it's unknown why humans, such a monstrous creature, appeared. Their bodies are not strong, but they have a highly imaginative and logical brain. Using this brain, they gradually became the masters of the world after thousands of years of exploration, becoming a transcendent existence on Earth. Any animal is helpless in front of them.

The whale is a bit like the Song Dynasty. It is huge, wealthy, peaceful, and tranquil, but lacks the courage to attack and retaliate. Hong Tao cannot fundamentally change it, but he can continuously stimulate it, prompting it to slowly change. Before that, Hong Tao needs to help it block some external interference so it can smoothly transition. When it gradually gains a bit of courage, like the true sea dominators, the orcas, it will chase and bite anyone who dares to provoke it. With the foundation and physique of the Song Dynasty, there would be no match for it in the world.

When he caught up with the whale again, which had just surfaced to breathe, three harpoons were already embedded in its back. Dark red blood was washed away by the seawater and quickly disappeared. The sudden attack left the whale a bit dazed. It separated from the pod and swam towards Ganshui Island. However, from its activity and swimming speed, it still had plenty of strength, far from being captured. Not only could they not let up, but they had to be even more careful to avoid being injured by it.

"I'll give you another one!" Hong Tao was thoroughly bad. This time, he didn't aim for the whale's back but threw the harpoon fiercely at the base of the humpback whale's curved tail fin. This area is the most active, and if torn by a harpoon, it would be more painful and cause more bleeding. It's like shooting an arrow at a person in armor; if you shoot the body, they can still persist for a long time, but if you shoot the leg, they either can't run or will bleed and suffer more pain if they do.

One harpoon after another, soon, seven out of the eight harpoons were embedded in the whale's body, with only one left in Hong Tao's hand. He was catching up from behind, preparing to give it another one. By now, Ganshui Island was clearly visible, and the whale had swum about ten nautical miles. Over an hour had passed, and its vitality was still strong, but its swimming speed had clearly slowed down. The intervals between surfacing for breaths were shorter, about three to five minutes, and it couldn't dive deep enough to pull all the bamboo tubes down, only dragging a large number of them on the surface, creating a trail of waves.

The large fleet of the Tanka people had already begun to arrive at Ganshui Island. Dozens of small wooden boats were parked on the northern beach of Ganshui Island, and several bonfires had been lit on the shore. People were preparing dinner for the day. More small wooden boats were still coming, and the peak of arrivals would be before sunset, with the slowest boats arriving by midnight.

"Xiao Er, your brother-in-law is back with the boat. He said he was going to hunt the shark, so why did he return so quickly? Did he kill all the sharks?" Someone in the crowd on the shore suddenly noticed the distant sail, which could only be Hong Tao's sailboat with its large black sail.

"Haha..." Many of the Tanka people laughed.

They didn't know who Hong Tao was. Only a part of the Tanka people from Zhenzhou Port had attended Hong Tao's engagement party and heard that Chen Ming'en had adopted a son from the sea. They also heard a bit about Hong Tao's ability to build ships and fight sharks, but those who truly understood him were limited to the families of Bo, Huang, Chen, Bu, Weng, and Wen. This time, all the Tanka people from the entire state and three military towns of Hainan Island came to the sea, many from the north, such as Qiongzhou, Wanning, Le'an, Engrace, and Changhua. They hadn't heard of Hong Tao or seen him.

However, when they set sail at dawn the previous day, all the Tanka people saw Hong Tao's strange large sailboat and the tall black sail. For a Tanka person who could sail faster than others, the other Tanka people were quite不服气 (unconvinced), especially the young ones. Although the Tanka people were united externally, there was competition internally. The more fish a young man caught and the better he sailed, the more he was a hero among the Tanka people and the more Tanka girls would be attracted to him. Since the Tanka people couldn't marry outside their group, this honor was very attractive to the young.

Most Tanka people didn't take the story of Hong Tao fighting sharks and killing several alone seriously, thinking it was just the Bo, Huang, and Chen families boasting about their relatives. They were all people who had lived by the sea for generations, and they knew each other's capabilities. Killing one large shark was believable, but surviving in a group of sharks that had already smelled blood and gone mad was quite sensational. Killing several alone was just boasting!

"Liu Da, we Tanka people speak straightforwardly. If you don't believe it, you can try with my brother-in-law. Whether on land or at sea, he is stronger than your Liu family brothers!" Bo Xiao Er, being older and more composed, didn't argue with them, but Bo Xiao San, who was roasting yams, was unhappy. He walked to the Liu family's bonfire with a stick of yams and shouted at the Tanka young men sitting around, ready to fight if they didn't agree.

"You're right, we Tanka people are straightforward. If you can, you can; if you can't, you can't! Don't say your sister couldn't find a husband, and you had to make up stories. If he could really fight in a group of sharks alone, why haven't we heard of it before? Did he jump out of a rock?" The Tanka young men didn't back down. Two of them jumped out to face Bo Xiao San, ready to fight.

PS: Click, collect, and recommend! Throw them all to Hong Bapi...

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